A New Toy...

[BrokenolMarine]

For the Bosses Shop.


Some of you may remember that right after we moved into the new property, one of the first things we did was give away the above ground pool and deck that was behind the house. The gravel spot was where we put Miss Tina's Studio... it was her "She Shed" She escapes there to sew, crochet, quilt, embroidery, whatever. We bought a prebuilt Amish building, and then finished the inside, complete with heat and AC.

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Once it was done, Tina started moving stuff in and getting organized. With all the sewing machines, equipment, supplies, and support gear... and my LE background... Yup, the building IS alarmed and covered by the full time security cameras. It's not that I don't trust some folks. I don't trust MOST folks.

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Just before we moved from our old Place, Tina began to have problems with one of her Classic Bernina Machines and we drove 100 miles to the "Certified Bernina Service Center." They told her it was the Motherboard and unlikely they would find one. If so, it would cost a couple hundred dollars, and then no guarantees it would last. For Christmas they had the newest, bestest, doo dah, Bernina machine that did just about everything on sale and would give me a special deal. Zero Percent interest and a package deal. You get the machine, and $3,000 worth of extras, and the machine was $4,000 off for 30 days only. Yeah.... That machine sewed, embroidered, had 200 stitches in memory... did everything. Merry Christmas.

She had trouble with it for a year. Of course we had moved four months after purchase. We took it to the service center in OKC, and they said they tuned it. It was fine. NOT. We took it to a small shop in Duncan, OK. HE checked it and said it had a number of major issues and always had. Bernina would have to replace the machine with a new one. Tina told him if he could find her a quilter in that price range, when the new machine came in she would sell it and buy the quilter. He traded her even for the quilter. Wow.. that thing is huge.... LOL.

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But, what it does is allows her to put the quilts she makes in the frame, then sew back and forth across the quilt with the machine, rather than feed the quilt thru the static machine. She can sew fancy scroll patterns and the like as well. Sweet. Seems like women's toys are just as much as boys.

[CT_Shooter]

My SIL has one just like that. She makes amazing quilts with very intricate stitching.

Tina is going to be in heaven. Congratulations.

[Oldbrass]

Wow that's really nice, she's gonna love it.. Everyone needs a place to tinker

[BrokenolMarine]

She can't stand to sit idle. She, like me, donates a lot of the things she makes for charity auctions, or gives them as gifts. She often gets lucky when she buys estate sale bulk when people realize what she does with the supplies.

[markiver54]

Very nice shop and equipment Jim! Congrats to Tina!

[daytime dave]

That's great. That's an impressive machine.

Mary wants a she shed. I'll have to show her this thread.

[BrokenolMarine]

That's great. That's an impressive machine.

Mary wants a she shed. I'll have to show her this thread.

I can show pics of the build if anyone is interested.

[GeoBoy]

My wife is a quilter also. She took over a room in the house that was my office. She has two Bernini’s, a cutting table, dedicated iron, ironing board and shelving for her stash, aka fabric. Then down in the cellar, she has a 12’ long arm APQS quilting machine and a design wall where she lays out all her piece work before she sews up the quilt top. It’s her happy place and she make many people happy, including veterans, with her beautiful work.

[Sir Henry]

That's great. That's an impressive machine.

Mary wants a she shed. I'll have to show her this thread.

I can show pics of the build if anyone is interested.

I would like to see the build. I’m really impressed with it.

[BrokenolMarine]

I'll work on that when I get home from therapy. Miss T told me what she wanted, I made it happen. She worked right beside me. We paid a professional electrician to tie into main power for insurance reasons.

[Hatchdog]

Those transom windows sure let in a lot light, that was a good idea.

[BrokenolMarine]

Those transom windows sure let in a lot light, that was a good idea.

We chose those extra high transom windows for just that reason. Lots of natural light, without taking up wall space all around the work area. She needed the work area. The first thing she discovered is that Windows in Oklahoma were like magnifying glasses. So, Artistic Tint.

[BrokenolMarine]

This is how the Studio arrived at the dealer in Ada from Norman, Oklahoma where it was built. Unfortunately, due to MY physical challenges, we contracted them to insulate, add the electrical, and insulate the floors. With the cost of materials their quoted / contracted price seemed fair. More on that later. They promised delivery in 30 days from payment. The building was dropped at the Ada lot, 45 days after contract. It was delivered to our farm two weeks after that. Only a month late. The delivery guy damaged the building when he delivered it. Broke a stud in the wall and cracked an exterior wall panel. He was "New" they said.

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Miss T had given careful thought to the interior design she wanted, and we got busy, AFTER they came out and made repairs. Ten days later.
At least they made good on the repairs. The guys that came down from Norman did a great job. Left the extra paint.

When we started, we started by putting up Bead Board interior. If I had it to do over, we would have run the bead board VERTICALLY as I initially suggested. She wanted to run the bead horizontally. What a pain in the ... um... buttocks.

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If you look closely at this picture, you'll see that when they installed the insulation, rather than install it correctly, they put the tabs on the side of the insulation on TOP of the 2x4 studs rather than inside the 2x4 studs where they are supposed to go. In addition, they must have been using air powered staplers as they used about 10,000 staples per stud. WE had to pull the staples and move the tabs inside the studs so the bead board would lay flat and not look like ocean waves.

We also paid extra for an electrical outlet every four feet along the walls. It was to be a hobby / sewing room and needed power available throughout. You would have thought they would have run plugs in series or parallel, with three on each run, so you have zones. After all, they were going to be running sewing machines, lights, radio, iron... etc. Not planers, table saws, etc. When the electrician came to hook up power, he found that they had run twelve individual lines to the corner of the shop and left them hanging. No breaker box. Just wires. For what we paid, all the sudden, not a decent price. (Later, one of the plugs burned out due to faulty wiring. $300 electrician fee to have them troubleshoot, would be a half day to pull the new wire and replace the plugs. Not.) That plug was behind a shelf and not used. Leave it.

The lighting and paint were also her choices, and she made economical choices. The hutch she found on the side of the road for sale for $20. It had severe water damage which required several days of work in my woodshop and recreation of some components from scratch. She painted it but we were able to reuse some of the stained pine aspects and recreate others. Not to bad for $20. I had the pine on hand for the other parts.

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We used a drywall lift to install the bead board in the ceiling, and learned as we went to do the flooring. In the end, it all turned out pretty well. The only downside is the nice install of the thru the wall AC unit turned out to be wasted as it died after three months in the Oklahoma heat. Home Depot stood behind the warranty and I sealed the hole, matched the bead board patch inside and we bought a larger window unit to install thru a front window, which Miss T had wanted to avoid.

But, we worked steadily, including framing the windows to make the place look nice. You can tell what a difference it makes.

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A view inside as we were nearly finished and she started moving things in....

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- more to come -

[BrokenolMarine]

The current outside view is a bit nicer. She recently painted the door, and there is a decorative grass planted around the building. On the left end are some metal sculptures fitting for the farm. Cow, cactus, and another cactus of sorts. She just planted some bulbs for flowers behind the grass. Gardenias, Tulips, something tall and colorful... They'll sprout soon and be blooming all summer.

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Hopefully this summer we'll be able to replace the old walkway that went to the pool deck with one specifically for the She Shed, and custom steps and a landing. Meh... hopefully. The way building materials and concrete are climbing...

[Rifletom]

That is impressive! Any thoughts on something similar for handloading and what not? Very nice.

[BrokenolMarine]

I would say this would work fine for a loading space, I loaded in one in VA for several years. I'd add the following caveats:

I would insure it was climate and humidity controlled to keep your powder and primers safe and all your equipment from rusting.

If you had windows, I would have blinds or one way mirror film for security purposes.

Due to the weight of lead and loaded ammunition, I would both add an additional layer of plywood or base to the floor, and additional support below to prevent sagging.

If you will be storing ammunition and supplies in the building, add the building to your alarm system. Both mine and Tina's shops are hard wired alarms, with door contacts, motion, and glass break. After the initial install, it added nothing to the monthly bill since we had an open slot/zone in the panel.

If you go with the Amish building, buy the largest you can afford, or fit in the available space. You will think, I can get by with 8x10, I just need a loading table and a storage locker. Then... If I got the 10x12 I could have set up the brass tumbler and left it all the time. Wow, with the 12x 16 I could have moved my cleaning bench out here and the boss wouldn't be whining about the smell of Hoppes. Plus target storage, spent brass, bowling pins, target frames, shooting boxes....

You get my drift.

[Sir Henry]

Thanks. I’m thinking one might make a good summer shooting shed. I’m thinking elevating it three feet and have a large porch. I don’t need anything nearly that finished. It really looks nice.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have a small one we bought used when we bought Tina's, to use as a range house. The doors open looking downrange, so if it's cold, windy, or raining: I could sit inside at a table and shoot. It also stores targets, steel, target frames, range boxes, and buckets of spent brass.

[BrokenolMarine]

The range house was a building the company had rented out as a "Rent to Own" and the "renter" didn't complete the contract and they repo'd it. Many of these come back trashed, having been used as dog kennels, goat houses, or filled with rats and mice. This one looked nearly new. Minor damage. They were asking almost new price. Since we had just ordered a custom building with many extras, and hadn't signed on the dotted line, I offered 60% on the used building and cash for both. (WE had just sold the farm in VA and had cash.) The local rep had to call Norman, she told him to take it.

The Side view:

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The Front view of the range house... I custom built the steps myself, buying treated lumber from Home Depot. That way I got the right number of steps and the width I needed.

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View inside... there is a bit more in there now.... but I haven't filled it full of unrelated junk to where I can't use it for the range.

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Here is a view looking uprange from where the berm will be built. It's Oklahoma, and it will be HOT here. I intentionally chose a shaded location. Not something I would have done in VA. Plus I am NOT shooting competition any longer and won't Have to practice a certain number of hours a week. I can practice when the light is good for long range, and there are going to be short ranges where the light is good throughout various times of the day.

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The berm kit. This is what we were unloading when I fell and broke my wrist in two places. Almost a year now. The wrist is healed, the nerve damage from the surgery has been a year, and they are saying another six months to SEE if I get back 100%. I am at about 85-90% now for Range of motion. Probably 30% on strength due to the nerve damage. Working on it.

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Should be able to start on the berm in a couple weeks using the tractor to move the ties.

[Sir Henry]

Those would most likely be more in my price range. I won’t be able to make any decisions until spring and know if I can buy the adjoining property.